José Guerrero is one of the most relevant Spanish abstract painters of the second half of the twentieth century. Although he mainly developed his career in the United States, when he visited Spain during the 70’s he became a great reference for the new generations of artists of that country. They were the ones who better understood Guerrero’s style and way of painting, and somehow they started to share it. Juan Manuel Bonet refers to this fact as the Guerrero effect ¹.
Concurring with the centenary of Guerrero’s birth Galería Cayón focused in this exhibition on the last twenty years of the painter’s creation. During this period Guerrero moves towards the experimentation with color and canvas’s two-dimensionality. These are works almost monochrome that try to move away from any reference to reality. Thus, he developed an incredibly personal and particular universe. //espacio en blanca showed seven canvas, some of which had not been seen for twenty-five years. Among them stands “Frigiliana”, a work that was more than four meters long.
¹ The Centro José Guerrero on 2006 devoted the exhibition curated by Mariano Navarro “El efecto Guerrero: José Guerrero y la pintura de los 70 y 80” to explore this issue.
It is also noteworthy Guerrero’s work on paper that included several drawings and gouaches where the artist studied and planned some canvas compositions. This is why //Orfila held a selection of several drawings made during the 80’s.
José Guerrero’s work is present at different museums as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid and Museo de Arte Abstracto Español de Cuenca, Spain. Furthermore, the Centro José Guerrero, Granada (Spain) holds and promotes the artist’s legacy. From October 17, 2014 was open at this Center “José Guerrero. Presence of Black, 1950-1966”.
Credits:
Courtesy Galería Cayón Madrid/Manila/Menorca.
